Snow in August [Mass Market Paperback]

Pete Hamill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998

In the year 1947, Michael Devlin, eleven years old and 100 percent American-Irish, is about to forge an extraordinary bond with a refugee of war named Rabbi Judah Hirsch. Standing united against a common enemy, they will summon from ancient sources a power in desperately short supply in modern Brooklyn-a force that's forgotten by most of the world but is known to believers as magic.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In 1940s Brooklyn, friendship between an 11-year-old Irish Catholic boy and an elderly Jewish rabbi might seem as unlikely as, well, snow in August. But the relationship between young Michael Devlin and Rabbi Judah Hirsch is only one of the many miracles large and small contained in Pete Hamill's novel. Michael finds himself in trouble when he witnesses the 17-year-old leader of the dreaded Falcons gang beating an elderly shopkeeper. For Michael, 1940s Brooklyn is a world still shaped by life in the Old Country, a world where informing on a fellow Irishman is the worst crime imaginable--worse even than the violent crimes committed by some of those fellows. So Michael keeps silent, finding solace in the company of Rabbi Hirsch, a Czech refuge whom he meets by chance. From this serendipitous beginning blossoms a unique friendship--one that proves perilous to both when the Falcons catch up with them.

Interlaced with Hamill's realistic descriptions of violence and fear are scenes of remarkable poignancy: the rabbi's first baseball game, where he sees Jackie Robinson play for the Dodgers; Michael's introduction into the mystical world of the Cabbala and the book's miraculous ending. Hamill is not a lyrical writer, but he is a heartfelt one, and this story of courage in the face of great odds is one of his best. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In Brooklyn in 1947, Michael Devlin, an 11-year-old Irish kid who spends his days reading Captain Marvel and anticipating the arrival of Jackie Robinson, makes the acquaintance of a recently emigrated Orthodox rabbi. In exchange for lessons in English and baseball, Rabbi Hirsch teaches him Yiddish and tells him of Jewish life in old Prague and of the mysteries of the Kabbalah. Anti-Semitism soon rears its head in the form of a gang of young Irish toughs out to rule the neighborhood. As the gang escalates its violence, it seems that only being as miraculously powerful as Captain Marvel?or a golem?could stop them. Strongly evoking time and place, Hamill (Piecework, LJ 12/95), editor of New York's Daily News, serves up a coming-of-age tale with a hearty dose of magical realism mixed in. Recommended for most public libraries.?Lawrence Rungren, Merrimack Valley Lib. Consortium, Andover, Mass.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Vision (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446606251
• ISBN-13: 978-0446606257
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (166 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #614,025 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Pete Hamill is a novelist, journalist, editor, and screenwriter. He is the author of 15 previous books including the bestselling novels Snow in August and Forever and the bestselling memoir A Drinking Life. He writes a column for the New York Daily News and lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A transcendent tale of faith and friendship, April 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Snow in August (Mass Market Paperback)

If you have a pulse, you will love this book. Whether you are from Brooklyn, Boston or Bangladesh, you will love this book. Whether you are Jewish, Catholic or Athiest, you will love this book! Pete Hamill does a fabulous job of harkoning us back to a simpler time (Brooklyn, circa 1947) without making us think that it was Utopia. The lead characters, Michael Devlin and Rabbi Hirsch, both are longing for acceptance and companionship. The Rabbi lost his wife in the Holocaust. Michael, the 11-year old protagonist of the story, lost his Father in the Battle of the Bulge. An unlikely meeting leads to a mutually beneficial relationship. The Rabbi fine tunes his English and learns the magical appeal of the game of baseball through the boy's teachings. Michael is equally enriched by falling under the spell of the Rabbi's stories and the Yiddish language. As outsiders, both revel in the exploits of Jackie Robinson, who breaks baseball's color line with his combination of skill and grace. Unfortunately, the duo learns that all is not wonderful and safe in postwar Brooklyn. A gang called the Falcons and their leader, Frankie McCarthy, intervenes with menacing intent. The gang inflicts serious beatings on the Rabbi and the boy and with threats of worse consequences lingering, Michael has to turn to his belief in one of the Rabbi's parables to save the day. It is a beautiful tale of friendship. Both lead characters are extremely likeable. The theme of overcoming all odds is exhilirating. Take the leap of faith and enjoy this wonderful novel.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Jackie Robinson needs the Kabbalah...the secret name of God...the Golem.", April 14, 2006

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Snow in August (Paperback)

In this delightful and magical novel by Pete Hamill, eleven-year-old Michael Devlin, a young altarboy, meets Rabbi Judah Hirsch, an Orthodox rabbi who has called out to Michael as he is passing the synagogue during a terrible snowstorm in 1947. The rabbi urgently needs someone to turn on the lights for him, but it is the Sabbath, a day of rest and contemplation, and turning on the lights is considered "work." The two strike up an unusual friendship, as each learns from the other, with Michael teaching the rabbi English, and the rabbi teaching Michael Yiddish. Michael is hoping to read the "magic" books the rabbi has in his library, books about Prague, the Kabbalah, the Golem, miracles, and the secret name of God.

Michael and his widowed mother live in a section of Brooklyn where the majority population is Irish, but it includes gangs of young toughs who prey on other immigrants, especially the Jews. During British rule in Ireland, the Irish developed a code of silence, and they have brought this code and their fear of the authorities with them to Brooklyn. When Michael observes the savage beating of a Jewish storekeeper, the gang threatens Michael if he talks. Though he knows this violence is wrong--and against everything he has learned in church--he obeys the code.

The novel is a morality tale, with a good deal of teaching done by the rabbi--about the past history of the Jews, about Judaism itself, and about the mysticism of the Kabbalah--illustrating the misunderstandings of Michael and his friends about a religion which is alien to them, but Hamill goes to considerable lengths to keep the novel from being preachy. Since Michael is only eleven, he carefully limits the point of view to what an eleven-year-old would think and feel. One of the major connections Michael makes with the rabbi is through baseball, which he explains to the rabbi, and as they commiserate about the hitting slump of Jackie Robinson, newly signed by the Dodgers, Michael identifies with Robinson--someone who has had to ignore hatred and survive taunts.

When the hatred and ignorance shown by the thugs in the neighborhood affect Michael, his mother, and the rabbi even more personally, the story reaches a crisis. Here Hamill abandons the vigorous realism he has shown so far and connects the plot with the mysticism of the Kabbalah and the legend of the Golem of Prague. Warm and affecting, without being maudlin, the novel is a personal story, filled with the color and life of the postwar Brooklyn in which Hamill grew up, at the same time that it is realistic about its prejudices and limitations. n Mary Whipple

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heroics that would make Speilberg smile, March 14, 2001

By 

dikybabe "admeyer" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Snow in August (Mass Market Paperback)

There is magic in snow, especially in the memories of snow in one's childhood. So, the grand adventure of a fatherless Irish Catholic altar boy in 1940's New York begins in snow. The voice through the snow, that of a Jewish rabbi newly emigrated to the U. S., is Michael Devlin's call to adventure.

An unlikely and captivating friendship results with Michael teaching the Rabbi English, and the Rabbi teaching Michael about the mystical truths of kabbalah, Yiddish, and the Jewish ghetto of centuries past Poland. Just as Jackie Robinson emerges as the great black hope of baseball, Michael and Judah Hirsch emerge to fight off the racist, bullying Falcons.

The fantasy of the Golem, a Jewish enforcer of justice, is restored to legendary status here. There is plenty of suspense and torture to overcome as Michael stands up for his Jewish friend and for his mother and himself. Michael comes of age through his exhibition of courage.

Did it really happen? Who cares? This is a great story with a happy ending. Get transported to another time when all things are possible. Read Snow in August. Or hope for a great movie version.